Schlaining Castle, Stadtschlaining, Austria

Schlaining Castle is one of Austria’s best-preserved medieval castle complexes. The original Gothic structure was expanded over time by additions in the Renaissance and Baroque styles. The castle was first mentioned in 1271. It has been owned by counts of Güssing, Emperor Friedrich III and Batthyány family.

The castle’s inner courtyard contains a mighty keep with walls up to eight metres thick. One part of the castle houses a collection of cast iron and weapons, another has been turned into a modern hotel with conference facilities. Schlaining Castle is also home to the European Peace Museum.

User Reviews

Alexander Borum (3 years ago)
Wonderful setting, notably for high level seminars

Tatiana Anton (3 years ago)
Quite and peaceful. Recommend for those who want to escape from urban noise.

Melinda Várfi (3 years ago)
Energetic place, beautiful forest paths around the castle.

Suvendu Das (3 years ago)
The history of humanity is a constant up and down of wars and peace. The European Museum of Peace wants to introduce you to this history of war and peace, causes and conditions of peace, violence and peace, for which Schlaining Castle and the European Peace University are the ideal setting. Nevertheless, war is not our destiny, humanity is not condemned to eternal war. But peace does not come by itself, as the development of the European Union shows. One hundred years ago, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Alfred Nobel wrote: "If you want peace, you must prepare peace." This is also the guiding principle of the Peace Museum, which aims to make a small contribution to the emergence of the global peace consciousness with its scientific, artistic and pedagogical concept. Another principle of the museum is that peace is more than the absence of violence and war. Because the emergency of life is not the war, but the peace in which we all have to prove ourselves. Positive peace therefore always has something to do with freedom and human rights, with social justice and the preservation of the natural environment. Therefore, the European Museum of Peace assumes a comprehensive understanding of peace, encompassing violence and its prevention, the environment and its preservation, conflicts and their processing, and peace and its development.

Mohammad Kordi (4 years ago)
A beautiful place, in the hart of a charming nature. You can feel peace, quite and the voice of the nature. I really enjoyed my time there, and the museum is beautiful place, it is only need to be developed from the services side like to buy more things as a souvenir. The staff is really nice and kind.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright mike catalonian

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Arles Amphitheatre

The two-tiered Roman amphitheatre is probably the most prominent tourist attraction in the city of Arles, which thrived in Roman times. Built in 90 AD, the amphitheatre was capable of seating over 20,000 spectators, and was built to provide entertainment in the form of chariot races and bloody hand-to-hand battles. Today, it draws large crowds for bullfighting as well as plays and concerts in summer.

The building measures 136 m in length and 109 m wide, and features 120 arches. It has an oval arena surrounded by terraces, arcades on two levels (60 in all), bleachers, a system of galleries, drainage system in many corridors of access and staircases for a quick exit from the crowd. It was obviously inspired by the Colosseum in Rome (in 72-80), being built slightly later (in 90).

With the fall of the Empire in the 5th century, the amphitheatre became a shelter for the population and was transformed into a fortress with four towers (the southern tower is not restored). The structure encircled more than 200 houses, becoming a real town, with its public square built in the centre of the arena and two chapels, one in the centre of the building, and another one at the base of the west tower.

This new residential role continued until the late 18th century, and in 1825 through the initiative of the writer Prosper Mérimée, the change to national historical monument began. In 1826, expropriation began of the houses built within the building, which ended by 1830 when the first event was organized in the arena - a race of the bulls to celebrate the taking of Algiers.

Arles Amphitheatre is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with other Roman buildings of the city, as part of the Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments group.

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